Vija Celmins

American, born Latvia, 1938

Celmins was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1938. She immigrated to the United States with her family when she was ten years old, settling in Indiana. She received a B.F.A. from the John Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, and later earned her M.F.A. in painting from the University of California, Los Angeles. Celmins received international attention early on for her renditions of natural scenes—often copied from photographs that lack a point of reference, horizon or discernable depth of field. A master of several mediums, including oil painting, charcoal and multiple printmaking processes, Celmins matches a tangible sense of space with sensuous detail in each work. In 1992 the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia organized the first retrospective of her work. She has had solo exhibitions at numerous museums, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Menil Collection in Houston and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1996 and received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1997.

Photo © 2002 Sidney B. Felsen